In spite of what the typical gamer believes about our industry, most of our conversations at Capcom center around exceeding gamers high expectations and not simply about maximizing the dollars we can extract from you. Satisfied customers that feel respected and valued will reward the best companies over time. It happens in every other industry and in the end the shakeout in our industry will center around customer satisfaction and value.

One of the fun topics that I have personally spent a bunch of time on is Devil May Cry 4 Collector’s Edition. For me, one of the behaviors that screams “gamer robbery” is cheap Collector’s Editions that contain little-to-no real value. A 16-cent figurine made by manacled inmates in a Siberian high security prison is not worth an additional $10 in retail costs. For Devil May Cry 4, we were not going to make a Collector’s Edition unless we included assets that had measurable marketplace value. After many months, we decided the lead item would be Volume One of the Devil May Cry Anime (two hours of video programming). As a standalone product it will retail for more than $26 at launch, so the value is measurable. By purchasing our bundle you get it for approximately $10 cheaper than if you bought them separately. Once we established the anime disc as the foundation of the Collector’s Edition we then added the regular stuff (e.g., making of video with Game Producer, digital art book, and music soundtrack).

When we announced the Devil May Cry 4 Collector’s Edition I really thought that the fans would be thrilled about the Anime bundle, but the response was mixed. Many of you talked about seeing an episode of the Japanese version on youtube and so what was the point of buying all four volumes with the Collector’s Edition. We respectfully disagree, but we listened, so we decided to add another unique item.

For what I believe is truly a first in our industry, DMC4 producer Kobayashi-san (also producer of Resident Evil 4, nuff said) has personally signed 100 copies of the PS3 and Xbox 360 Collector’s Edition tin by hand. We are now going to reintegrate these signed tins into the game manufacturing line and randomly distribute them across the US to a number of retailers and distributors. It might not be the keys to the candy factory, but it will be a rewarding, personal touch for a few lucky DMC fans.

For you hardcore Devil May Cry fans I recommend the following course of action. Pull out Devil May Cry 3 and play some of your favorite levels a couple days before Devil May Cry 4 is available and once you receive your game watch the entire Volume One of the Anime, and then begin to play Devil May Cry 4. That for me is a high value entertainment experience (white wig not included).

If you are lucky enough to get a signed game box from Kobayashi-san congratulations and thanks for helping to keep us honest.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 14th, 2008 at 5:22 pm and is filed under Devil May Cry®. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.